UH to Enact Tobacco-Use Policy on June 1

The
University of Houston will become a tobacco-free campus beginning June 1, 2013,
except for designated areas, which will allow the use of tobacco products for
one year from the policy’s start date.

UH’s Tobacco-Free
Campus Policy, an initiative of the UH Tobacco Task Force (TTF), is a positive
and health-directed initiative. It is part of UH’s commitment to providing a
healthy and sustainable environment for everyone in the UH community.

The new
policy bans the use of all tobacco products in University buildings, University-owned
buildings and on University grounds, including parking areas, sidewalks, walkways
and University-affiliated parking facilities, except in the 20 designated
tobacco-use areas.

The
policy applies to all employees, students, University affiliates, contractors
and visitors and is a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week policy for the UH campus and
the UH Energy Research Park (ERP). It applies to everyone visiting the UH
campus, including people attending athletic events, artistic performances and
non-UH functions.

The
policy applies only to the UH campus and ERP and does not affect any other
entity in the UH System. The policy bans all forms of tobacco, including
but not limited to cigarettes, cigars, pipes, water pipes (hookahs), bidis,
kreteks, electronic cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, snuff, chewing tobacco, and
any other non-Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved nicotine delivery
devices.

UH also
has launched a new website -
www.uh.edu/tobaccofree
- that
contains all of the information about the new tobacco ban policy, including a
map of designated smoking areas as well as information about UH’s tobacco
cessation services for the UH community.

In the
past few years, a number of UH students and others have been advocating for a
smoke-free policy for the campus.

Additionally,
the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) requires grant
recipients to have tobacco-free policies in and around all locations where CPRIT-funded
research is conducted. UH is
a recipient of more than $9.4 million in
funding from CPRIT. Funding from this state agency is imperative to important
cancer research activities at UH.

Last year, UH established the TTF to draft a
tobacco-free policy that was distributed to stakeholder representatives across
campus for their review. UH President Renu Khator approved the new policy in
the summer of 2012.

UH is
not requiring anyone to quit using tobacco products. The new policy prohibits the
use of tobacco products on campus and at the ERP, expect in designated areas.

Everyone
on UH property is expected to adhere to the tobacco-free policy. Enforcement of
this policy will be achieved primarily through education, awareness and
cooperation.

Once the
ban in enacted, UH community members are allowed to respectfully inform a
person using a tobacco product about the ban and request that he/she comply,
unless that person is in a designated tobacco-use area.

The TTF
website includes a portal for individuals to report violations of the
policy. Enforcement of the policy is limited to a standardized e-mail message,
containing a policy reminder and information about available tobacco cessation
services. This e-mail message will be sent to individuals who are reported via
the TTF website portal for violation of the campus tobacco policy.

The TTF Oversight Committee will review the number
of violations reported via the TTF website portal on an annual
basis to study the effectiveness of the tobacco-free program.

The temporary
tobacco-use locations will be available for one year from the June 1, 2013,
start date, at which time a review will determine if any of them or all of them
will continue to be in use.

This is an important health-related initiative for
the UH community. In 2010, the U.S. Surgeon General Report concluded that there
is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke. The American College Health
Association Guidelines advocate for a campus-wide tobacco-free environment.

UH also is mindful that the policy marks a
significant change for tobacco users on campus. UH encourages anyone who wants
to quit using tobacco products to visit UH’s tobacco cessation resources page
for access to help.

UH
invites everyone to visit the new website, which contains the full text of the
official policy, an FAQ on the new policy, a map of the designated smoking
areas, information about UH’s tobacco cessation programs and other useful
information.